Saturday's victory at Clemson was huge for the Virginia men's basketball team. The ACC road win, Virginia's first of the season, gave the Cavaliers a confidence boost and some much-needed momentum going into tonight's matchup against Maryland.
After a 104-76 blowout at Clemson's Littlejohn Coliseum, No. 11 Virginia (14-4, 3-4 ACC) faces No. 9 Maryland (14-5, 5-2) at 9 p.m. in a sold-out University Hall.
Travis Watson, a 6-foot-8 center and the Cavaliers' main inside presence, said he is optimistic about his team's chances against the Terrapins.
"We're going to try to keep the momentum from [Clemson] and do the same against Maryland," Watson said.
Having a repeat winning performance against Maryland's top trio of Juan Dixon, Terence Morris and Steve Blake won't be easy. In Saturday night's close loss to Duke, the trio tallied 41 of the Terps' 98 points, with Dixon leading the way with 17 points.
Virginia coach Pete Gillen, well-known for his catchy one-liners, made a humorous analogy to put upcoming games into perspective.
"Every game is a killer and you look up to a barrel of another shotgun in the next game," Gillen said.
The next shotgun barrel is a Maryland team that narrowly lost to Duke 98-96 in overtime. What makes that game even more impressive - or heartbreaking for Terps' fans - is that the Blue Devils overcame a 10-point deficit in the closing seconds. With 54 seconds left in regulation, Duke made a quick comeback that forced overtime and enabled the Blue Devils to pull away with a dramatic victory five minutes later.
The Terrapins also grabbed a fairly easy 81-71 victory over an impressive Wake Forest squad Jan. 17.
The Cavaliers, on the other hand, lost at Wake Forest in convincing fashion 96-73 Jan. 2.
But Virginia guard Roger Mason Jr. says he thinks the Cavs' current momentum can be pivotal in its matchup with Maryland.
"We started the ACC season out a little bit rocky, but that [Clemson] game will be able to help us," Mason said. "The win gives us momentum, something we definitely needed. It's going to be a tough game against Maryland. They are one of the elite teams in the ACC, and we feel like we are too, so we're going to have to prove that."
The Cavaliers have shown substantial progress in conference play after dropping their first three of four ACC games to Wake Forest, Georgia Tech and Duke. But they've made up for that disappointment by winning the last three of four matchups, including an impressive win over Big Ten opponent Missouri on Jan. 20.
The Cavaliers also gave archrival North Carolina all it could handle in an 88-81 near defeat before a Carolina blue crowd on Tobacco Road.
Virginia fans will find out tonight how far the Cavaliers have progressed when they host the Terrapins, who are looking for redemption following their overtime loss to Duke.
In last year's regular season finale at University Hall, Virginia upset the No. 17 Terrapins, 89-87, to end a string of embarrassing ACC losses. Fans expected the win to propel the Cavaliers into the NCAA Tournament for the first time in three years, but they had to settle for a bid to the National Invitational Tournament after being snubbed by the NCAA selection committee.
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